The present volume is the outgrowth of a symposium held in New Orleans under a grant from Roche Laboratories. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together speakers exemplifying a broad spectrum of contemporary psychiatric thought "to express their views, share ideas, confront each other and contrast perspectives." With this goal in mind the symposium must be considered a success, yet the resulting work is by no means the "classic of contemporary psychiatric thought" claimed by the publisher.
The level of discussion varies from the empirically centered to the theoretically based. Discussions include, among others, summaries of experience with the use of the Minnesota Multiphasis Personality Inventory in 50,000 medical patients (Rome), experience with 923 psychotherapies of 15 or fewer sessions (Tompkins), experience with particular types of schizophrenics (Bruch, Finch), an excellent review of anxiety (Masserman), and a brilliant exposition of the nature